JTG debuted with the NWA at the “When Our Shadows Fall” PPV earlier this month. He defeated Fred Rosser on the show and has since been taking part in episodes of Powerrr exclusively on FITE. The former member of Cryme Tyme spoke to Metro UK recently about how he is hoping to keep Shad Gaspard’s memory alive through his run with the NWA.

JTG was asked what is driving him to get back in the ring at this point in his career.

 “Besides my passion, it would definitely be representing both Shad and myself,” JTG said during the interview.

JTG continued to say he wants to represent Cryme Tyme in the best light possible with everything he does in his career moving forward.

“I’m not just representing myself anymore. When people see JTG, Jay Tha Gawd, they automatically think of Shad”

“I wanna make sure I represent the team and myself and him in the best light possible, and keep Cryme Tyme alive with whatever I do forwards.”

JTG On Fan Response To Shad Gaspard’s Passing

Also during the interview, JTG said that the outpouring of respect and care following Gaspard’s passing really helped him in the grieving process.

“To see it on social media, everybody sharing – it helped me a lot during my grieving, seeing all these things that people were writing about him, the videos, charity, all that good stuff,” JTG said. “It definitely helped me through the grieving process.”

The full interview from Metro UK can be read here.

JTG and Shad Gaspard first started teaming together in 2006 on Ohio Valley Wrestling shows. Between 2 runs on the main roster of WWE and wrestling on the independents beginning in 2014, Cryme Tyme never stopped being a team. Following Shad Gaspard’s tragic death, JTG posted a message to his longtime partner and friend.

“I want to say thank you to all the friends, fans and family who reached out to me and Shads family during this difficult time. The outpour of love and support has definitely helped me get through this. I have my moments where I’m in disbelief and feeling a tremendous amount of hurt but as soon as I start to reminisce about Shad and our relationship I begin to smile,” JTG says in the above post.

JTG also posted a link to a GoFundMe account to support Shad’s family.

JTG would also post the last video the two Cryme Tyme members filmed together.

“Shad, Thank you for always being there for me. You were more than my tag team partner, more than a friend you were the big brother I always wanted growing up. The world will remember you for what you are. A HERO.”

• Triple H Remembers His Last Meeting With Shad Gaspard

Former WWE Superstar JTG continues to float the idea of a tag team match between Cryme Tyme and The Young Bucks.

JTG recently released an app for people to send audio memes to their friends called Earsaye (Website). In a recently published video to promote the app, the Brooklyn, NY native asked why the Bucks keep ducking their challengers.

“Why do you keep ignoring Cryme Tyme?” The video asks. “The wrestling world needs this match.”

The video concludes with JTG being sent a birthday message from Shad, as seen below:

Cryme Tyme To AEW, MLW, Or Impact?

JTG and Shad were recently interviewed by Hannibal TV and were asked about potential dream opponents.

“We got to have a match with the Young Bucks. I will not rest until we have our match with the Young Bucks,” JTG said.

They also talked about possibly signing with AEW, MLW, or Impact Wrestling.

“If they reach out to us, you know,” JTG said when asked if there was any chance of them ending up in MLW or Impact Wrestling. 

“The difference with me and J is that we’re taken care of,” Shad added. “We didn’t buy houses with our money, we invested and then the money that we didn’t invest, that we squandered, we learned from those lessons immediately and then when we got money back in, we started investing again and being smart. So now we have incomes that are over $300,000 a year so it’s like, we’re good on doing nothing.”

JTG and Shad Gaspard, formerly known in WWE as Cryme Tyme, have challenged The Young Bucks to a matchup. 

In an upload to his Instagram account, JTG shared a picture of himself and his partner with the AEW Championship. His post is most likely in response to a tweet by Shane “Hurricane” Helms, who inferred that Cryme Tyme could have been behind Chris Jericho’s missing, and now recovered, AEW Championship.

“I don’t want to point fingers or anything, buuuuuut, has anyone seen @Jtg1284 or @Shadbeast lately? Just asking. No reason.”

JTG accompanied his image, which features a speech bubble reading ‘Do we have your attention now’ with the following caption:  

“First off…. Cryme Tyme are not thiefs. We’re actually outstanding citizens, @shadbeast13 and I actually Re-Rack the weights and wipe down the equipment when were done at the Gym ! ! ! We are GOOD People. We have NEVER stolen anything in our entire career. That was a rumor that got out of hand. We borrowed this title to make a message. This was not a hit on @chrisjerichofozzy But a message to AEW. If you want your precious title back…. Its simple.We want The Young Bucks ? #crymetyme #aew #maketagteamwrestlinggreatagain #TAGTEAMGOATS #WRESTLING #tagteam #tagteamwrestling“

Cody has previously stated that AEW has only revealed approximately 40% of its roster. With All Elite Wrestling debuting on TNT on October 2nd, could Cryme Tyme be a team the promotion might be interested in?

Former WWE tag team wrestler JTG recently shared some insight into what it’s like working with Vince McMahon. On episode 120 of The Ross Report podcast, JTG discussed his relationship with the infamous WWE Chairman, saying he was always approachable.

“If I had an issue, I would just knock on his door. Or if I saw him on his phone, I would ask ‘hey, how are you doing, boss? Can we chat for a sec?’ It was that type of relationship,” JTG explained, “but it was always business.”

The Cryme Tyme member also revealed one thing that Vince likes in an employee: What Mr. McMahon would call “grapefruits.”

“One thing I do realize with Vince, is that he respects balls and he respects confidence,” said the former WWE Superstar.

JTG says he always felt “very comfortable” around The McMahon family when he worked for WWE. You can listen to the entire podcast here.

Former WWE Superstar JTG recently appeared on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast and discussed a number of topics related to his career. Below are some of the highlights from the interview.

On Paul Heyman’s name for him in OVW:

“I was known as Neighborhoodie. Paul Heyman gave me that name. And then when I heard it, he was like, ‘we’re going to call you Neighborhoodie’ and I was like, ‘okay, I love it’. Paul Heyman, if you’re listening to [this], I didn’t like it, but at the time, I didn’t want heat.”

On the story behind the JTG name:

“I’m still JTG. I own the rights to JTG. I don’t know how I pulled that off,” JTG said. “When I was in OVW, I was at the top of my class. And when we’d cut promos, I’d call myself ‘Just Too Good’. Just Too Good. At the end of every promo, it would be, ‘because I’m Just Too Good’. And then when I got to WWE, I had to humble myself. A lot of people would ask me, ‘so what does JTG stand for?’, and I started stuttering, I said, ‘uh, Just Too Gangster’ because I didn’t want to say Just Too Good because I didn’t want heat.”

On the original name for the Cryme Tyme tag-team:

“We heard about Cryme Tyme, I think it was our second or third time up on the road. We were just sitting in an office coming up with names, and you wouldn’t believe some of the names they had. I’ll give you an idea of [just how terrible the suggested names were]. I forget what the writer’s name was, but he said, ‘we’re going to call you Hoodie Nation and here’s what we got. You’re going to come out with your own flag and we’re going to sell flags and everybody in the audience is going to have the Hoodie Nation flag and you guys are going to be so over.’ And we’re like, ‘oh, gosh, no.’ And then they checked to see if the name was available because you have to go through trademark and this whole process and somebody already had it. I’m like, ‘yes! Thank you!’. And then Cryme Tyme came up and we just spelled it different and it worked.”

On teaming with John Cena and advice Cena gave him:

“One day, I just found out that we would be partnering up with Cena and I’m like, ‘hell yeah! That’s like the perfect fit.” JTG continued, “[CTC] was a good learning experience. A lot of the things I was doing that I had no idea was wrong, John Cena pulled me to the side [and said], ‘don’t do that no more. We’re taking it to another level.’ For example, before every match, I’d like to get the crowd warmed up. I’d say, ‘are you ready to get it popping?’. I’d look at the crowd [and] he’s like, ‘don’t do that. You don’t need their approval. Just start the match.’ He was like, ‘you don’t do that anymore.'”

On meeting his wife and the angle where he and Cena destroyed JBL’s limo on the 7/7/2008 edition of RAW:

“I’ll never forget that day. That was the day I met my wife, so I’ll never forget that day. John Cena came out. He was having a [feud] with JBL, and, if I can remember it right, he had some violations and he needed some help.” JTG continued, “and then when I invited my soon-to-be wife to the show, I was like, ‘that would be perfect. She sees her future husband being a bad ass. Oh, he’s with John Cena and beating up limos?'”

• *NEW* Photo Gallery: Awesome Bikini Pics Of RONDA ROUSEY At The Beach!

Former WWE Superstar JTG of the Cryme Tyme tag-team recently spoke with Greg Beck about his run with the company, his future and more. Below are some highlights from the interview.

On having heat in WWE: “We had heat from the day we stepped foot into the WWE doors.” I asked if the heat was more on Shad’s end. “Man, there’s no such thing as Shad. That’s how it is in the wrestling business when you’re in a tag team. Even if you look up stories about The Rockers. Sometimes Marty Jannetty would get into trouble but The Rockers felt the brunt of it and it was the same thing with Shad. When Shad did something then Cryme Time felt it and vice versa. If I did something then Cryme Tyme felt it.”

On if he had to deal with racism in WWE or is that something that doesn’t exist backstage anymore? “I’m not gonna say it doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t believe WWE is racist. Right now they have the tag team champions Kofi Kingston and Big E and Xavier Woods. I wouldn’t say that they’re [WWE] racist but there’s definitely a system in place, that I believe…this is my opinion, that African American, black Superstars, can go so far. That’s from what I’ve see and that’s my perception because as of right now to this day i’ve never seen a black WWE Champion. Not the title from WCW, I’m talking about the WWE Championship. I haven’t seen a black face of the company.”

On his thoughts on Triple H and whether he would be a good fit to take over the company: “In my opinion, if Triple H could put aside his ego and his dislike for a person and focus on business then I think it could probably be a lot better. For example, I don’t think he was a big fan of Zack Ryder. Zack Ryder did everything he could to get over and he got over and when he was in MSG [at Survivor Series 2011] and The Rock was there and they were chanting Zack Ryder’s name. I wasn’t in New York [at the time] but my buddy told me that he went to Survivor Series and he was on the train and they were chanting for Zack Ryder. That was the perfect time to take advantage and make some money off of Zack Ryder. That was the perfect underdog story and it was all thrown to the side because he wasn’t favored by Hunter.”

“When you see someone try so hard to get noticed..you know Zack Ryder busted his ass and he got a lot of respect backstage and from the boys in the locker room. He got so much respect for getting over on his own and not needing the machine to push him. He got a little push but they buried him. That put a black eye on the morale in the locker room. It was like damn, if he did all that it kind of make everybody not even wanna try.”

Check out the complete interview at WrestlingNews.co.

• Mayweather-Pacquiao PPV Buys Revealed + How Much Did They Get Paid?

Former WWE Superstar JTG is scheduled to release his first autobiography on Wednesday.

The former Cryme Tyme member will be releasing the tell-all book, which is titled, “Damn! Why Did I Write This Book?” and it will apparently include a number of backstage stories from his time in WWE and OVW.

Below is the official synopsis for JTG’s new autobiography:

“DAMN! WHY DID I WRITE THIS BOOK? Is a compilation of short stories all focused around the four letter word that has ended more wrestling careers than steroids, pills and alcohol combined. HEAT!

HEAT – A “black cloud” that follows a superstar after a personal conflict or misunderstanding between two individuals or more backstage.

In Damn! WHY DID I WRITE THIS BOOK, I take the reader, on a journey, from the beginning of my career, to the final curtain call; sharing stories on how I battled Heat from day one, while managing to piss off more people for writing this book!!!

• Update w/ SPECIFIC Details On CM PUNK’s UFC Debut Fight!

– Despite agreeing to terms with the WWE, independent wrestling star Uhaa Nation is scheduled to work the next set of WWNLive.com events.

– Former WWE Superstar Shad Gaspard, who was part of the “Cryme Tyme” tag-team, has a small role in the new film, “Get Hard,” which features Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Gaspard can be seen in the trailer below at approximately the 1:30 mark as the character “Big Ass Julien.”

• Josh Mathews Takes Some STIFF Shots At Jim Ross, JR Fires Right Back At Him …

– While shooting footage for The JBL & Cole Show, Michael Cole suffered a black eye. The injury occurred while the WWE announcer played rugby at Huddersfield Stadium in West Yorkshire, England with professional player Eorl Crabtree. John “Bradshaw” Layfield posted this image on Twitter of Cole’s accident.

Check out @michaelcole 'a black eye! A little rugby today at Huddersield with @bigeorl pic.twitter.com/gUYqwgOnyR

— John Layfield (@JCLayfield) November 10, 2013

– WWE Hall of Famer Tammy “Sunny” Sytch recorded this message today promoting her upcoming appearance at the Classic Grand Rock Club in Glasgow, Scotland taking place this Thursday. The event will feature a Q&A session and meet and greet. Event details are available here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCNRQax5PzE

– WWE Superstar JTG reunited with his former partner in crime, Shad Gaspard, this weekend in Venice Beach, California.

What yall know about crystals.lol pic.twitter.com/JVfegon2Vm

— JTG (@Jtg1284) November 10, 2013

-WWE Superstar Mark Henry landed on TMZ for dressing up like rapper Rick Ross for Halloween. Henry played up the look after shaving his head and growing his beard out recently. You can check out the full article online at TMZ.com.

-Former WWE Superstar Shad Gaspard is featured prominently in the new Caroline Brooks music video for their single, “Parachute.” You can watch the full music video below:

http://youtu.be/xDGgu5vNPj4

DIRECT LINK: Photos Of Mark Henry’s New Look

The following are results of the matches taped for this week’s edition of WWE Superstars, which was taped prior to the start of WWE RAW on Monday night.

-Tony Dawson and Alex Riley came down to ringside for commentary.

-Santino Marella defeated JTG via Pinfall.

Santino came out first, to a huge reaction from the fans in attendance. Out next was JTG, who will be his opponent in this one-on-one contest to open this week’s WWE Superstars taping. The match was kept relatively short and was mostly a comedy match, with Santino picking up the pinfall victory after hitting the Cobra on JTG.

-Kofi Kingston defeated Drew McIntyre via Pinfall.

Kofi Kingston came out first to a nice ovation. Out next is his opponent, 3MB member Drew McIntyre. A lot of back-and-forth offense in this one, with several near falls. The finish came when Kingston hit his Trouble In Paradise kick on McIntyre for the 1-2-3.

-After those two matches, the WWE RAW announce team of Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler and JBL made their way to ringside. That ends this week’s WWE Superstars taping.

Early Survivor Series & Battleground PPV Spoilers + LIVE SmackDown Spoilers TONIGHT! [..]

— Mickie James has launched an official website promoting her musical endeavors at MickieJames.com.

— Today is WWE Women’s Champion Michelle McCool’s birthday, who turns 30 years old.

— WWE has released the Cryme Tyme Runnin’ the Block T-Shirt at the following link.

— WWE returns to the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, Massachusetts on August 28th, 2010 and the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis, Massachusetts on August 29th, 2010. (Thanks to Devin Cutting)

At Tuesday night’s SmackDown tapings, Cryme Tyme member Shad Gaspard told WWE management that he was unable to participate on the show as scheduled because he was feeling very sick.

Gaspard’s partner, JTG took his spot at the last minute and you can read what went down here:

• *SPOILERS* SmackDown Tapings Results for Friday 10/23

After some online reports that some people backstage were questioning the legitimacy of Gaspard’s illness, he posted the following message on his MySpace page earlier today:

“Ok before this thing gets out of hands let me set the record straight. This past Monday I got sick while traveling from Mexico to the US. On Tuesday my symptoms increased drastically to body pains, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea. I tried several over the counter medicines that temporarily worked, but didn’t help in the long run.

Finally I went to or WWE doctor who prescribed to give me a shot of Phenergan, which should have worked. Unforchantly it made me drowsy and brought on cold chills. The office thought it best I leave than try to perform. I spent Tuesday night in my hotel room vomiting and dealing with bad diarrheaa all night (Trust me no one ells was near or around me). When I got back home I dealt with the same symptom all day as my girl helped me get better bye taking what our family physician prescribed, and getting rest…..

I’ve never let being sick ever keep me from performing, I’ve worked sick, hurt, and injured before on live events, TV tapings, and Pay Per Views, I just never let no one excluding my partner know how I felt or what I was going through. I apologies to my tag team partner, the participants in my match and the WWE universe, I should have found out all the information about what was given to me before I took it, and prevented my self from getting sick in the first place.

I take full responsibility for what happened and I’m sorry. In our industry there is a tradition that the show must go on no mater what, and I feel I have betrayed that tradition bye not performing last Tuesday. The greatest joy in my life is performing in the WWE (Win, Lose or Draw), I love what I do, and I will never let something like this happen agene.

Sincerely
Shad Gaspard